The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was declared game of the year Wednesday night at the Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco.

The open-world fantasy RPG from Bethesda Game Studios beat out finalists Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Dark Souls to take home the biggest award of the night. It had been nominated in five categories, though it only took home the award for game of the year. Winners were voted on by game developers themselves.

Valve Software's Portal 2 was also a big winner, tallying up the most awards for the evening, including best game design, best narrative and best audio. The downloadable RPG Bastion, meanwhile, took home two awards, including best downloadable game and best debut.

In addition to the individual awards for games, special honors were given to pioneer award winner David Theurer, the creator of arcade games Missile Command and Tempest, and lifetime achievement award winner Warren Spector, creator of System Shock and Deus Ex.

"Games can be unique among all media," Spector said, according to USA Today. "We're not novels, we're not movies, we're not television. We shouldn't try to be them. We can do things that no other medium in human history has been able to do."

Skyrim, which hit stores in November, quickly became the most-played game of 2011. It also took home game of the year in December at Spike’s Video Game Awards. Our own Matt Murray, who reviewed the game, gave Skyrim high praise, saying that it was the best installation in the Elder Scrolls series to date.

About the Author

Angela has been a PCMag reporter since January 2012. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a reporter for SC Magazine, covering everything related to hackers and computer security. Angela has also written for The Northern Valley Suburbanite in New Jersey, The Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Uniontown-Herald Standard in Pennsylvania. She ... See Full Bio

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